


Best Laid Plans

by suzannahbee123



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Captain America - Freeform, Falcon And The Winter Soldier - Freeform, Fix It Fic, Gen, The White Wolf, The Winter Soldier - Freeform, bucky and sam are sassy, falcon - Freeform, zemo didn't know wjat he was letting himself in for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 10:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20388349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzannahbee123/pseuds/suzannahbee123
Summary: Zemo has a plan to destroy the Falcon and Winter Soldier. Will it work?





	Best Laid Plans

**Author's Note:**

> So, I saw a post on instagram and tumblr about a plot theory as to what Zemo was going to be doing to tear these guys apart in their future TV show. Naturally, I was livid with this stupid idea and, naturally, I used the magic of fanfic to fix a problem that may or may not ever actually see the light of day :D  
Who knows if this will happen or not, but if Marvel ARE reading this… you have my permission to copy my ending ;)

Helmet Zemo stares down at his two captives, feeling something akin to satisfaction for the first time in… well, a very long time.

Years… almost a  _ decade,  _ and  _ finally  _ he would have his satisfaction. What an alien had failed at - destroying the Avengers -  _ he  _ would succeed at. Secrets tore them apart once, they would do so again.

Once more, he let his eyes rove over the bound and helpless forms of his captives. The Winter Soldier and the new  _ Captain America,  _ Zemo sneered. “Heroes” was what they apparently were. He knew the truth however, that they were nothing more than arrogant, high powered and well funded murderers. They were both silent, eyes downcast, gently straining against their bonds, trying not to show their efforts… How  _ predictable _ they were!

Naturally, it was Sam Wilson who opened his mouth first, all brazen bluster and little thought of consequences,

“Okay, you win, Zemo! This is getting old, man, can you just kill us already?! You win, we lose, yada yada yada… your game of “stare until we break” is  _ weak,  _ just get on with it!”

The fact that Sam Wilson had, in fact, broken, appeared to be lost on him, but Zemo turned his attention to The Winter Soldier, bored of his comrades chattering and bargaining.

His hair may be shorter, his body marginally leaner, but it was still the broken Soldier from Berlin that sat before him. Quiet, eyes on the floor, and metal arm rendered useless by the machine he had hooked him up to…

It was almost sad that neither of them learned from past mistakes, and as an army man, he was appalled at their lack of growth.

Sam Wilson finally ran out of steam, and Bucky Barnes remained as silent as the grave… Zemo felt his anticipation grow until it filled his head… this secret had been  _ very  _ hard to confirm, to get evidence of, but this time he  _ would not  _ fail!

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark had always been born to be at odds, always arguing over morality, even as they worked for the greater good. Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, however? Theirs was a friendship and partnership long fought for and hard earned. What had been done in Bucky’s past to Sam Wilson, and vice versa, was something that they had both learned to leave behind. They could look back, could bicker and fight, but they had become as brothers.

Zemo could see the friendship, love and respect almost  _ shine  _ from them, like a beacon in the night. Proof that your past need not define your future and all sins could be forgiven…

But some sins were not easily forgotten. Tony Stark has been proof of that.

“You two… you thought you had bested me… you thought you had tracked me down, cornered me like an animal, and you would bring me in… you really thought it would be that easy?”

A laugh escaped him, he didn’t mean for it to, but it finally brought Bucky’s eyes to his, and Zemo felt the first flare of annoyance rather than pride.

Barnes didn’t look broken anymore. He looked  _ defiant! _

“You have no idea how easy this was, pal. We placed bets,” Barnes allowed a smirk to pull his lips up at the corners as he gestured his head towards Wilson, “he lost,  _ obviously,” _

“Hey! I  _ assumed  _ the guy was smarter than this! Wasn’t he the asshole who ruined my team? Had me livin’ on the run for two years because he started a goddamn fight?!” Wilson’s voice rose in disgust and he shook his head at Barnes, “How the hell could I assume he would be stupid enough to get caught so easily?!”

“Whatever, you still owe me twenty bucks,”

“ENOUGH!” Zemo slammed his fist down on the table in front of them, making the TV screen jump and Barnes and Wilson stared at him incredulously,

“Excuse me, that was fuckin’ rude,” 

Barnes nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah, you’ll get your turn to talk in a while, pal!”

“Pal?” Zemo huffed out a laugh, allowing the silence to drag, “You call your friends this? You call…  _ Sam  _ this?”

A look was shared between the two soldiers. One in red, white and blue, the other in black… they could not look more different, but they were united against him nonetheless…

Not for long.

“He is your friend, no? Your  _ pal…  _ Captain Rogers is gone, retired for good, and you limp to the only one of the former Avengers who can stand to look at you, and you think you are  _ friends?” _

_ There…  _ there was the defeated look he wanted… Barnes’s eyes dropped to the floor again, his jaw muscle ticking along his cheek in agitation. So predictable…

Wilson coughed obnoxiously, bringing Zemos eyes to his, “Well? You have something to say?”

“Yeah, I do, asshole,” Wilson sat up straighter, staring him dead in the eye. Zemo should feel respect for him, for his bravery… but that emotion had died with his family. 

“This guy, this stubborn, annoying, chews with his mouth open and thinks he’s better lookin’ than me, grade A,  _ jerk?”  _ An angry head tilt at Barnes who was  _ still  _ staring at the floor, “You best watch your mouth about him, Zemo. He’s  _ my,  _ asshole friend, and only  _ I’m  _ allowed to give him this kind of hell, you got it?!”

“Such friendship…” Zemo mused, smiling to himself as he took out the memory stick and plugged it into the back of the TV, “I understand… Barnes is your comrade in arms, he is your gym buddy, your sparring partner… he is the friend you  _ can  _ save,”

Wilson took a sharp breath, and Barnes’s head snapped up, his gaze bright and alarmed.  _ Finally,  _ they wore the expressions that they should when talking to him!

“You saw Riley die, did you not? Saw him shot out of the sky, too far to do anything but watch as his body plummeted to the earth…”

“Shut up, man!”

Zemo grinned, clicking the screen on and scrolling through options, “You were  _ helpless,  _ you were  _ powerless…  _ and the ones responsible for your friends broken and dead body were a faceless enemy, legion and generic. You could fight for your country and honour your friends murder without ever having to kill the man responsible, yes?”

“Stop…” 

Zemo’s triumphant smile at Sam turned rueful as he looked down at Barnes, he almost felt bad for him… to be used as he was… well, it was not his problem.

Getting rid of all traces of Avengers, old  _ and  _ new, was his mission,

“I'm afraid I cannot, Sergeant Barnes… your last and only friend needs to know the truth at last…”

“Wait!”

Zemo ignored Wilson’s wail. He didn’t turn when Barnes growled at attempted to lunge from his seat.

He just hit “play” and stepped back… his work was done…

Grainy footage, crackly audio, but it was still clear enough. Riley flying through the enemy, shouting positions and plans to Wilson, blurred planes and the zing and pop of flying bullets…

And then the moment Zemo had set the film to stop at. The moment where Riley cried out in agony as the bullet pierced his flesh and his body began to fall. The frame was perfect, the face in the enemy craft as clear as any HD photograph…

The face of The Winter Soldier, aka Bucky Barnes, stared back. His eyes were dead, his face without any inflection as he shot Riley from the sky like it was nothing.

Zemo turns to his captives, feral pride shooting through his blood at their faces. Wilson was slack jawed, no words were being spewed now. And Barnes? There was his broken soldier, his eyes shining again, as they did in Siberia when he spilled his secrets to those that would hate it most.

A deep groan, a huff of defeated air, and Barnes hung his head in shame. His only friend… would soon murder Barnes in vengeance, on streaming High Definition for the world to see.

Captain America, the new hope, murdering a man in cold blood for a death he was not entirely responsible for. No PR manager in the world could fix that. The Avengers would be no more, and Zemo would finally feel peace!

The silence stretched… Sam Wilson closed his mouth but didn’t look at Barnes. 

Bucky Barnes head still hung low, and his shoulders shook with… Zemo cocked his head and stride over to him, those weren’t  _ tears! _

Barnes’s head suddenly shot up, his pursed lips bursting apart and a rush of joyous  _ noise  _ met Zemos ears. He looked and sounded like that moronic and ridiculous hyena in the cartoon his son used to watch on repeat…

Barnes was laughing hysterically and Wilson was snorting alongside him. Zemo saw his plan turn to ash in front of his eyes.

“Zemo…  _ pal!”  _ Bucky laughed uproariously, positivity quaking in his seat, “I told Sam,  _ months  _ ago!”

“Yeah,” Sam sniffed, shaking his head at Zemo, “You think that my guy still doesn’t have any control over his memories? That he would allow himself to be used again by the likes of  _ you?!” _

They continued to laugh, positively straining against the chains and ropes that held them, but this time it was not because they were trying to escape, no, their laughter was simply too powerful to keep their bodies still. Their laughter at  _ him! _

“How can you laugh at this?!” Zemo hissed at Wilson, inclining his head at Barnes, “He murdered your friend! You saw! He did so without an ounce of hesitation! He-”

“Bucky was tortured and brainwashed, you stupid dick! And yeah, I’m mad as hell that he was the one to kill a good man like Riley,” Wilson shrugged, turning slightly in his chair to look at Barnes, completely ignoring Zemo, “ but this guy right here? He told me as soon as he saw a picture of Riley and put his name to the face he screamed about in his dreams!”

“I don’t scream.” Barnes interrupted, pointlessly, “I bellow, like a man,”

“You scream like a teenage girl, don’t lie, asshole,”

Zemo just couldn’t understand it. These two fools continued to bicker like an old married couple, not even acknowledging Riley again. How could they be so callous?! How could this mans death, his  _ murder _ , mean so little?! 

“Shut up!” Zemo shot his gun into the air, the bullet piercing the ceiling and raining dust down on the two, finally, silent soldiers, “You are fools! Weak! You do not deserve this friendship! Your new families! Your second chances! I lost my entire family,  _ all of them _ , in one afternoon! Who pays for killing them?! No one! I want my vengeance! I want you two to-”

“WAAAAAH!”

“God, you’re boring,”

Zemo blinked at them in shock, “Excuse me?!”

“You wanted us to tear into each other, right?” Sam raised a sardonic eyebrow and rolled his eyes at Barnes, who groaned back, 

“That’s his MO! I told you! Let’s get the hotheads to kill each other! He has a one track mind,”

“I do not-”

“Is war  _ all  _ this guy thinks about?” Sam talked over him, completely ignoring Zemo and focusing on Barnes, “Does this moron think we’re here to start some kind of- of-” 

“Civil War?” 

Sam nodded his head at the suggestion, “Yeah! What kind of moron… is that what you wanted, Zemo?!”

“I do not know…” Zemo felt his knees give out and he collapsed into the nearest chair, putting his face in his hands, “I thought-”

“You thought that you had caught us, well-”

Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson both stood from the seats, bonds falling away as if they had never been tied to begin with.

“-guess again, jerk. You caught us because we  _ wanted  _ you to.”

**BOOM**

The walls shook, and the sound of heavy footsteps moved in the floor above their heads, coming towards the entry to the basement he had placed them in. Zemo closed his eyes in defeat,

“I thought you two would be easy. That you hated each other…”

“I hate HYDRA for killing Riley, not Bucky,” Sam said, simply. Barnes just shrugged, 

“I could never hate someone who treats me as a human being,”

They both crossed their arms menacingly, and Sam Wilson delivered the final parting shot, 

“We’re The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and we are stronger  _ together  _ than we ever will be apart.”

Arms grabbed Zemo and lifted him to his feet. He stared after Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes as they took him away and he felt… almost glad that he had failed. They were a force to be reckoned with, perhaps they would do better than the men that came before them…

Only time would tell.


End file.
